The Blossoming
by Heero1
Summary: Sasuke has betrayed the village, and spurred Sakura to change her lovestruck ways. She changes and grows as a person and as a ninja. Will contain pairings later. NaruSaku or NejiSaku. Some SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

A/N: AHHH, it's been so long since a wrote. And it's my first time writing a Naruto fic. EEEK. I love Naruto so much, I hope I don't mess up the characters. Okay, so this fic is mostly about Sakura, and how she grows as a person and a ninja. Some parts are the same as the show, but I tweaked some others. Hehe.

Oh,

_Italics are for thoughts. Mostly they'll be Sakura's, but not necessarily._

**The Blossoming**

**Chapter 1: The Scar**

It had been a week since Sasuke had betrayed the Leaf and Shikamaru and the team of Genins had left to retrieve him. That week felt more like a year to Sakura. Since her team was gone, Sakura had been left to fend for herself, to fill her days with whatever she wanted. She quickly fell into a routine that she unconsciously followed. She would get up early in the morning and rush to the gates of Konoha, standing there for hours awaiting Sasuke's return. At around noon, her stomach would inform her noisily of her hunger, and she would go to Ichiraku and eat a small ramen. Then, she inevitably started thinking about Naruto and Sasuke and the times they had shared there and she wept silent tears into her soup. After lunch, she would go to Ino's flower shop to pick up a single yellow daffodil for Lee. Ino tried to draw Sakura out of her depression, but "forehead girl" no longer drew any reaction from her. Sakura went to the hospital to sit with Lee, where they made small talk about the weather, his therapy, and anything and everything except for Sasuke. Lee tried to confront Sakura once, but she simply withdrew into herself and was silent. He hadn't tried it since. After her short visit with Lee, she would wander around the village, visiting all the spots that brought back remembrances of her team: the bridge, the academy, Ichiraku. Her last stop would always be the gate, where she waited until dusk when her mother came with a small bento for her to eat. Her mother would look at her with worried eyes which roused Sakura enough out of her coma-like state to eat her dinner and talk with her mom, which mostly consisted of her mother talking and Sakura responding with an occasional sound of acknowledgement. Her mother would then leave after asking Sakura to come home soon. Sakura never answered and never looked back.

The entire village could see the destructive path Sakura was walking down. She barely ate, barely slept, and it was beginning to show. She looked like the living dead, a shadow of her usual cheerful and energetic self. Her parents were at a loss as to what to do. Comforting didn't work, scolding didn't work, nothing seemed to work. All they could do was hope that eventually Sakura would snap out of it on her own. Ino was worried about Sakura too. She thought Sakura had become stronger after all these years, but she now realized how weak Sakura was wherever Sasuke was concerned. She hoped this whole situation wouldn't break her. All Ino could do now was to act like nothing had changed and try to bring a spark of life back to Sakura's eyes, if only for a moment. Ino really hated how Sasuke could do this to Sakura and the village. Betraying his village, his friends and fellow ninjas, for whatever reason was unforgivable. If Sakura ever got over this, Ino was going to make sure that Sasuke never came between them again. If anything happened to Shikamaru or Chouji, she would never forgive Sasuke. She'd hunt him down herself.

The day finally arrived. They came back. Although she spent almost all her time at the gate, she wasn't there when they arrived. She was at the hospital with Lee. A nurse kindly informed Sakura that they had returned. Sakura finally seemed to awaken from a deep sleep. Her eyes filled with hope and fear, nervousness and relief. She ran around the hospital looking for Naruto and Sasuke. Her frantic searching was fruitless. Naruto and Sasuke had not returned yet. She found the rest of the team though. And what she found out confirmed her worst fears. Neji and Chouji were critically injured. In trying to bring Sasuke back, they were severely wounded. Tears came to her eyes. It was becoming harder and harder to defend her love when he first turned his back on his home, his friends, his team, her, and now because of him, her friends were possibly dying. He had always been rather cold, but she had always known he had a heart. Now, she couldn't be too sure. She would need to pick up more daffodils. Although a million daffodils could never repay them for risking their life to rescue a missing-nin, formerly their comrade.

When she heard Naruto was back, it was with a light heart that she went to see him. Naruto was back, he was alive. He must have brought Sasuke back too. She remembered his "good guy pose" and his heart-felt promise.

_I will bring Sasuke back for sure. This is a promise of a lifetime._

Naruto's so strong and confident. He seems like a ramen-eating idiot, but he puts his mind to something and no matter what it is, no matter how impossible it sounds, Naruto can do it. He works so hard and tries so much, that it's hard to doubt that he can do what she couldn't: bring Sasuke back.

She was outside Naruto's door. She knew Naruto would grin his goofy grin, tell her he dragged Sasuke-teme's ass back, and then beg her for some ramen. After all, that was Naruto's way. She was about to open the door, but what she heard stopped her.

"So Sasuke…"

"Yeah, he went…."

_Sasuke didn't return. Sasuke didn't return. _It was like a mantra running through Sakura's mind. Inner Sakura had nothing to say. For a week, she had been silent, no taunts, no words of support, no swearing. The situation was too severe, too shocking, too depressing, that there was simply nothing to say.

She finally went in, not knowing what to say. Sasuke was gone. Her heart felt like it should be breaking, but surprising she felt completely numb and cold. One look at Naruto though, shocked her out of her depression. He was covered in bandages. He looked like a mummy.

_Oh my God, this is my fault. I asked Naruto to do this. I know he always wants to protect me, and I took advantage of that. I sent him to his doom. I sent all of them to their doom. It's all my fault. It's all my fault! I'm so useless. Why couldn't I stop him before he left? I should have fought harder. I should have forced Sasuke to stay. Why am I so useless? I couldn't protect Sasuke. I couldn't protect Naruto. WHYYYY?_

"Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted her quietly, with tears in his eyes. He had failed her. He had failed his precious Sakura-chan when she needed him the most. He wanted to protect her, but he couldn't bring back Sasuke. He hadn't kept his promise. His ninja way – he had failed it. _No. He would bring back Sasuke. It would be his lifelong goal. For Sakura, he would drag Sasuke back and beat him up for hurting Sakura-chan. _

"I'll bring Sasuke back. It was my promise to you. I swear to you, I'll bring him back."

Sakura snapped out of her trance and saw the tears and pain in Naruto's eyes, as well as the determination. She felt a painful guilty twinge in her heart.

"NO! Don't do it, Naruto! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you promise. You almost died, Naruto. Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, you all could have died! It would have been my fault. I couldn't stop him, Naruto!" Sakura cried out.

"I should have fought harder! But I couldn't, because I was weak. Even for Sasuke-kun, I couldn't. I wanted to protect him, so I should have fought him. For the village, I should have fought him to keep him here, or kill him if he refused to stay. But I didn't, because I'm a bad ninja. I have no techniques, I have no skills. All I can do is control my chakra. The only reason I was a ninja until this day was because I wanted to be near Sasuke. And now he's gone, he left us, he betrayed us, for power!" Sakura growled, her anger and self-loathing apparent.

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Tsunade were looking on in shock. They had never seen Sakura like this. They had never seen her bad-mouth Sasuke before.

Sakura took out a kunai, and to the surprise of everyone in the room, even herself to some extent, she stabbed the back of her left hand. Naruto moved to rush to her aide, but Sakura held up a hand, motioning for him to stay where he was. "I swear, that from this day forth, I will be a new person, a new ninja. I will train to become strong enough to defend Konoha and protect my precious people. That will be my ninja way. And Sasuke-ku, no, Sasuke, is nothing to me but a missing-nin. If he could leave us and betray us, he doesn't deserve to be a Konoha ninja. I swear this to you, Naruto. You've been there for me, when I didn't deserve you, when I called you annoying and hurt you. You always stood up for me and protected me. Now, I will work hard and protect you. My new ninja way!" Sakura smiled at him, but it didn't escape their notice that some of the light had left her eyes.

Shikamaru scowled, _Women, so troublesome. First they love someone, then they want to kill them. Love's so troublesome._

Naruto worriedly watched Sakura. _I'm sorry Sakura-chan. I failed you. I tried to protect you, but you got hurt. But I'm proud of you though, I know you'll get strong. You'll be a super kunoichi! You have a great punch already, I know that. _

Tsunade smiled inwardly. _These youngsters really are something. I'll have to keep an eye on her and help her along the way. _She frowned a bit. _I wouldn't want her to suffer the same way I did…_

Naruto was the first to explain, "Sakura-chan! You're bleeding a lot! Obaa-chan, heal her!"

Tsunade was seething, but made an exception because Sakura was bleeding quite a bit. She moved to heal Sakura, disinfecting the area, slowing the blood flow, and reknitting together the torn flesh.

Sakura looked on, smiling a little, most of her sadness washed away in the excitement she felt at the new direction her life was taking.

"Hokage-sama, could you make it so that I have a scar from this? As a reminder of my promise and of my ninja way."

So Sakura got her first scar, not from battle, but from herself, to act as a reminder if she ever felt herself becoming weak again. Inner Sakura came back with a vengeance. _Hell yeah! As if we need a crappy reminder! We're gonna kick Sasuke's ass sky high!_

_Sasuke…kun. I hope we never meet again…I don't know what I would do…_

To be continued….

A/N: hmmm, I wonder where this fic is going. Please read and review. I'll try to write some more soon. Bye for now!


	2. A New Start

**Disclaimer:** Hehe, I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter. But yeah, I'm not so delusional as to think that Naruto or any of it's characters belongs to me. Although I'd love Sasuke to belong to me. Droool. Or Neji. Or Gaara. Or Kakashi! Super Drool. Down rabid fangirl. Down. Hehe. Gotta keep reminding myself that P

Anyways, on to the fic. D

**The Blossoming**

**Chapter 2: A New Start**

Sakura woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and revitalized. As she stretched out her arms, getting out those early-morning kinks, she caught a glimpse of her new scar on her hand. She suddenly sobered up. What she had done yesterday, she had done without thinking things through. She had been too caught up in the moment. Naruto's guilt at failing her and determination to dedicate his life to fulfilling his promise to her had set off a myriad of conflicting emotions: sadness that Sasuke was gone, guilt at pushing Naruto to risk his life to bring him back, self-loathing at her weakness and incompetence as a ninja. All this emotion transferred into anger and hatred at Sasuke in that moment. She had never been so motivated as then to become strong in her own right. She might never catch up to geniuses like Sasuke or Neji, or be as powerful as Naruto or Lee, but she would try. At the very least, she never wanted to hold her teammates back ever again. She would take care of herself and one day she might be able to pay Kakashi-sensei and Naruto back for all the times they had protected her and saved her life.

But Sasuke-kun. She sighed. She really had loved him. It had started out as a crush, but had developed into more. Even though he hurt her and ignored her, he did care about her somewhat. He had always protected her. They were teammates. But how could she excuse what he had done? He had left them, left his village. That couldn't be taken lightly. It was a crime, a crime whose punishment could be as severe as death. Could she love a criminal? Could she love a traitor? Could she love someone so addicted to power that he would leave behind his teammates and friends? No, she had to draw the line somewhere, and that was where she would draw it. Sasuke had crossed that line, and finally woken her to the fact that he was exactly how he seemed: cold and untouchable, with a heart of ice. And she had grown up enough to realize that although the dark and mysterious guys were attractive and cool, that wasn't something to build a relationship on. She had always thought she could change him somehow. That eventually, he would get his revenge and then finally look back and see her waiting for him and he would realize that she loved him and that he loved her. Happily ever after.

But life isn't a fairy tale. Especially not hers. There were no princesses with big-foreheads. Nor were there emotionally-challenged, power-hungry, vengeance-driven princes. She'd been living in her own little fantasy world for far too long. A guy that paid her little to no attention wasn't worth all that she had had to give up any longer. Losing her first and best friend, her identity, her goals and dreams, years of her life. Sasuke had, in a way, stolen all that from her. Take Sasuke away, and her life seemed void and meaningless. She was a worthless shinobi. She had few friends, especially after she replaced Ino's friendship with their rivalry over Sasuke. Worst of all, she had no goals, no dreams, no hopes, no interests. She was like an empty, lifeless doll without Sasuke. And that's how she knew that her love for him wasn't right. Love wasn't supposed to bleed you dry, taking all you had to give. Love was about give and take. Even one-sided love should make you feel giddy and light-hearted, seeing the person you love happy or knowing that they cared at least as a friend. And love wasn't supposed to be all-consuming. It wasn't supposed to be some sort of disease that came and took over your life. But that was what it had done.

Love? Screw love, and screw Uchiha Sasuke. If that's what "love" did to somebody, Sakura never wanted to love again. The only thing Sakura wanted to do now, was to get back her lost time. From now on, she would do what she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it, and say what she wanted to say, without holding back or worrying what Sasuke would think. She was a new person, and it felt damn good.

"SAKURA! What are you doing still in bed? It's 11 o'clock already!" her mother shouted.

Sakura checked her beside clock._ Holy shit! It was 11! How did I lie in bed for so long just thinking!_ _Well_, _I suppose I had a lot to think about. It isn't everyday that a girl decides to change every aspect of her life._

So with a slight grin, Sakura moved to jump out of bed, when her mother barged in, startling her.

"Sakura! It's time to get up. Don't you have work to do?" Sakura's mother scolded.

"Yes mother. I'm getting up right now. I'll be right down." Sakura replied, barely reining in her annoyance. Inner Sakura was much more liberal in what she said, fortunately not out loud. _GRRRRR! I was just getting up! Ruining my damn mood, and so early in the morning! #&(&#!_

But it seemed not even her mother could bring her down. The sun was shining, and Haruno Sakura was going to go out there and KICK SOME ASS! _HELL YAH!_

And that called for a new wardrobe. She felt like a whole new person on the inside, so she obviously needed to look like a whole new person on the outside right? Right! Well, any excuse to go shopping was a good one. And what better way was there to win back Ino than with a special present to represent a new start to their friendship?

_Yes! Plan Rebuild-My-Life-And-Train-And-Get-Strong-And-Be-A-New-Person is underway! Heh, I'll work on a better name later._

So it was with newfound zeal and an extra bounce in her step, that Sakura left her house to start her new life, with Sasuke finally out of her mind and heart, or at least hidden so deep that not even she knew what she felt for him anymore.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Weeell, another chapter done. Hopefully I'll keep updating quickly like this. And, wow, if I keep going like this, Sakura might get down the road the next chapter. Kinda slow. S But I'll try to speed it up a bit. I think I just needed Sakura to think through what she was doing, and clarify her actions a bit.

Anyways, time for me to go. Ciao.

Read and review please. Pretty please? Sugar on top?


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